Dive Brief:
- In addition to the existing competitive pressures characteristic of the current job market, employers are also contending with the prospect their employees are ready to move on to new careers and industries entirely, according to a BambooHR survey of more than 2,000 U.S. adults who were employed in the last two years.
- The HR software firm found that 63% of respondents had considered changing their career path, industry or heading back to school within the past six months, and 88% said they could see themselves working in an industry other than the one in which they were currently employed. Generation Z and millennial respondents were the most likely to be open to an industry change. Healthcare, business and professional services and arts and entertainment were the top industry choices for these respondents, BambooHR said.
- The opportunity to earn a living wage was the most important characteristic of a job for 61% of all respondents.
Dive Insight:
Hiring alone hasn’t been enough to clear employers of staffing concerns during the Great Resignation. Even workers with just a few months on the job — and especially younger workers — are weighing a change of scenery, according to a recent Lattice report. That may reflect, to some extent, the reevaluations that many younger workers have had to make as the pandemic warps their work experiences.
The decision to move on has paid off for some employees. A Conference Board survey published earlier this year found that nearly a third of employees who left their organizations during the pandemic earned more than 30% more than they did at their previous jobs, while slightly fewer received increases of 10% to 20%. But respondents to BambooHR’s survey indicated that better pay and benefits were not enough in some cases; 38% said they felt the least valued they had ever felt in their careers within the past year.
Purpose and shared beliefs could prove to be differentiators. A recent Randstad survey of employees found that 48% of millennials and 49% of Gen Z respondents said they would not accept a job that didn’t align with their stances on social and environmental issues. More than 40% of both contingents said they wouldn’t mind earning less if they felt their jobs contributed to the world or society.
In previous interviews with HR Dive, sustainability-focused organizations said they were using the promise of meaningful work to their advantage, with some claiming that candidates had chosen them over working at firms with larger name recognition.
